Brake mechanism for automobiles



1,645,124 1927' E. D. BROWN BRAKE MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILES OriginalFiled Sept. 50, 1925 Z SheetS-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS E. D. BROWNBRAKE MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBILES Oct. 11,1927. r 1,645,124

OrigiTal Filed Sept. 50. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS Patented Oct.11, 1927.

UNITED STATES EDGAR D. BROWN, F IPOTTSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

BRAKE MECHANISM FOR AUTOMOBELES.

Application filed September 30, 1925, Serial No. 59,648.

This invention relates to brake mechanism for automobiles, and has forits object to provide an improved brake mechanism having a source ofpower, normally held in restraint, for applying the brakes, and meansunder the ready control of the operator, preferably without removing hishands from the steering wheel, for releasing the power to permit thesame to automatically apply the brakes.

A. further object is to provide an improved brake mechanism havingasource of power for applying the brakes, with means for automaticallyreleasing the brakes when starting the engine and holding the brakesreleased with the power mechanism under restraint until again applied atthe will of the operator.

With these objects in view, the invention consists in the usual or anysuitable brake, applied either to the rear wheels, or the forwardwheels, or both if desired, and any suitable source of power as, forexample, a weighted lever, which is normally held in inoperativeposition with the brakes released, and means, such as a foot lever, forreleasing the power device which then operates through suitableconnections to apply the brakes. When the power device takes the form ofa weighted lever, said lever is preferably held in elevated posit-ion,to hold the brakes in release, by means of a suitable catch in positionto be readily tripped by the operator. This trip action may be se curedby a variety of devices. Preferably, as here shown, such tripping actionis accomplished through the medium of the clutch lever which is soarranged that upon suitably depressing the clutch lever the catchmechanism is tripped and the power, as for example the weighted lever,is released and the brakes automatically applied through suitableconnections from said lever to the brake.

In order to insure'the release of the brakes upon the starting of theengine, and before the clutch is thrown into action, suitable means forrelieving the brake mechanism of the action of the pow-er device isprovided, which means may take any suitable form, depending upon thecharacter of the power mechanism employed. As herein shown for thepurpose of illustrating the invention, the weighted lever whichconstitutes the power mechanism for applying the brakes Renewed February25, 1927.

is so connnected'to a Bendix drive, constituting a part o1 the selfstarter for the engine that, on the initial operation of the Bendixdrive, the power, as for example 1 distributor, is open, but isautomatically closed upon the release of the brakes. In the form of theinvention herein illustrated, the circuit to the distributor passesthrough the trip mechanism when the latter is closed and acting to holdthe brakes in release and, when said mechanism is tripped to apply thebrakes, the trip is opened and the circuit is broken; reversely, whenthe brakes are released, the trip mechanism is again closed therebyclosing the circuit to the distributor. By this means it is impossibleto start the engine with the brakes applied.

The inventive idea is capable of receiving a variety of mechanicalexpressions, one of which, for the purpose of illustrating theinvention, is shown in the accompanying drawings, but it is to beexpressly understood that such drawings are for the purpose ofillustration only and are not designed to define the limitsot theinvention, reference being had to the appended claims for that purpose.

' In said drawings Fig. 1 is a broken perspective view of a portion ofan automobile showing the invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a detail perspective of a portion of the weighted lever and ofa cam operated thereby upon the application of the brakes and in turnoperating the lever upon the release of the brakes;

Fig. 3 is a broken detail inside elevation, showing the application ofthe invention with the battery and connections therefrom to the Bendixdrive shown diagrammatia cally;

4 is a detail in perspective, showing the'connection ofthe powermechanism with the self-starter of the Bendix drive;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 3, showing the means employedfor steadying the weighted lever and preventing rattle thereof when thebrakes are released;

Fig. 6 is a detail in side elevation of the trip mechanism for holdingthe brakes in release or applying the same.

In said drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate like partsthroughout the several views, 1 indicates the usual or any suitable rockshaft, taking bearing in the frame of the machine, from which rods 2extend to the brakes, here shown as rear brakes. It will be readilyunderstood that there are two of such rods, one on either side of themachine, the one on the righthand side bein shown in Fig. 1. The rods 2are connected to the rock shaft 1 by crank arms 3 rigidly keyed to theshaft, and a crank arm 4 likewise rigidly keyed to the shaft 1 isconnected to a forwardly extending rod 5, which in turn is connected toa crank arm 6 keyed to a stub or other suit able rock shaft 7. Uponrocking the shaft 7 the necessary motion is imparted to the brake rod 2to apply or release the brake as the case may be. All this is the usualand well known construction, and the rocking of the shaft 7 hasheretofore been accomplished by means of a brake lever extendingupwardly into the machine in. a position to be cone trolled by theoperator. According to the present invention, any suitable source ofpower, here shown as a rearwardly extend- 'andwhen the said lever isshaft 7 is turned in the direction to release sition shown in l.

ing lever 8, having the weight 9 adjustably carried thereby, is appliedto, the rockshaft 7. When the weighted lever 8 is free to fall, theshaft 7 is rocked to apply the brakes, raised, the rock the brakes. Forthenpurpose of controlling these movements of the lever 8, there is, inthe present instance, applied to said lever a compound arm'10,l0. Theportion l0'of said arm is connected to said lever 8 some considerabledistance to the rear of the rock shaft"? and extends forward andparallel with the lever 8. The element 10 of said compound lever (whichif desired could be attached directly to lever. 8) is turned rightangles to the element 10 and lever 8 and 1s curved upwardly andlaterally and bears on its upper outer end a roller 11.

This roller contacts with a cam 12, a portion of which is shown in'Fig.2, but which is shown more completely in Fig. 4, in each of whichfigures the parts are shown in the position which they occupy when thebrakes are released. The cam 12 has a face 12 so shaped that when thelever arm 10 falls or moves downwardly, carrying with it the roller 11,the latter wipes the cam face 12 and moves it slightly to the left ofthe po- V f This cam 12is rigidly secured to a gear wheel 13mounted toturn with close frictional contact on the shaft 14, on which shaft iskeyed or otherwise rigidly secured the gear wheel 15 which istheordinary fly wheel of the engine operated by a selfstarter of theBendix type well known in the art. I

The motor 16 of the Bendix drive is provided, as is usual with suchdrive, with a quick threaded shaft 1? upon which is mounted a gear 18which, when the motor 16 is energized, is moved from right to left (inFig. 4) and thrown into gear with the wheel 15, and thereby starts theautomobile engine. The gear wheel 18 is of sufficient width tosimultaneously engage, under proper conditions, the gear teeth of thetwo gear wheels 13 and 15, which wheels are of the same diameter andgeared alike. It will, of course, be understood that the ge'ar wheel 18moves from right to left, when the'motor 16 is energized, againstthe-tension of the spring 19. vVhen the motor 16 stops, the gear 18 isreturned by the spring 19 to its normal posi-' tion shown in Fig. 1;

The gear wheel 13 has a cutaway portion 20in its periphery and, when thebrakes arev released with the parts shown in the position of Fig. 4,this cutaway portion is insuch a position that the gear wheel 18, inmoving from left to right, is out of gear with the gear 13. However,when the brakes are released and the brake lever 8 falls, it carries thecompound lever 10, 10" and with it the roller 11 downwardly, and saidroller contacting with the cam face 12 moves the gear wheel 13 slightlyto the left (as shown in Fig. 4) so as to bring the gear teeth thereoninto position to be engaged by the Bendix gear 18, when the. motor 16 isagain -ener gized, and when thus engaged the gear 18 revolves the gearwheel 13 untilthe cut out portion 20 is brought opposite the gear 18when the two are then thrown out of gear. It will thusbe seen that theslight forward movement imparted. to the gear wheel 13 through themedium of the roller 11 and the cam 12',plus the movement imparted tothe gear 13 by the gear 18, effects one complete revolution of theformer, so that the cutaway portion 20, when the brakes are released, isalways'in such a position as to leave a free passage for thegear '18from the gear 15 back to it's'normal position shown in Fi 4.

vAttached to the lever 8 near its forward end is an upwardly extendingarm 21 having its upper end turned slightly forward and carrying aroller 22. Mounted to turn on a suitable, fulcrum 23 is a two-armedlever 2 l2t. jThe upper arm' 24: extends rearwardly at an-angle from thevertical and is provided with a weight 25 on the under side thereof.Preferably, said weight has a cam face as shown, and the action of theweight is to throw the downwardly depending arm 24 of this catch leverforward where its bent nose engages the roller 22 on the arm 21, andwhen so engaged acts to hold the brake lever 8 n its elevated posltlonand with the brakes released. ply the brakes, it is only necessary totrip the lever 2l-24. This may be accomplished in any suitable way andwith any suitable mechanism under the control of the operator.Preferably, and as here shown, this tripping action is accomplishedthrough the medium of the clutch lever 26 which is provided with a camface 27 (Figs. 3 and 6) so positioned that when the clutch lever isforced well in or down, the cam 27 wipes the under face of the weight 25and thereby acts to trip the lever 2124e, permitting the brake lever 8to fall and apply the brakes. Any other suitable mechanism for effectingthis tripping action would be within the spirit of the invention. Whenthe brake lever 8 is raised to release the brakes, the roller 22 wipesthe nose of the trip arm 24 and is reengaged thereby as will be readilyunderstood.

Preferably, means are provided whereby the current flowing fromthe'battery through the distributor to the spark plugs is interrupted orbroken when the brakes are applied, the circuit being, however,automatically closed when the brakes are released. As one means ofeffecting this, the circuit passes through the fulcrum 23 of the triplever 242st, through the arm 24, the arm 21, which is insulated at 28,and thence on to the distributor, as will be clearly understood byreference to Fig. 6. It will be observed that, when the brakes areapplied, the circuit would be broken because the roller 22 would be outof contact with the trip arm 2%, but when the brakes are released theparts would occupy the position shown in Fig. 6, thereby closing thecircuit to the distributor.

To start the engine, the operator steps on the starter button 29, Fig.1, (diagrammatically shown in Fig. 3) and closes the circuit to themotor of the Bendix drive, thereby energizing the latter, throwing thegear 18 to the left from the position shown in Fig. a, and the gearwheel 13 having been slightly turned to the left by the depression ofthe lever arm 10 (when the brakes were applied) and the action of theroller 11 on the cam face 12, the gear 18 simultaneously meshes with thegears 13 and 15. As before described, it revolves the gear 13 until thecut out portion 20 comes opposite the gear 18; it also simultaneouslyrevolves the gear 15 to start the automobile engine. As the gear wheel13 is revolved, the roller 11 travels on the face of the cam 12, and,when the cutout portion 20 reaches the position shown in Fig. 4, theroller 11 will have just passed over the upper nose of the cam andassumed the position shown in said figure. This will have raised thebrake lever 8 until the catch 2% comes under the roller 22 and holds thelever 8 in its elevated position and the In order to ap-- brakesreleased, and simultaneously closes the circuit to the distributor.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 5, it will be seen that the rear end of thelever 8 moves up and down in a frame 30. This frame has a cam face 31rigid thereon and extending inward. Mounted on the frame is a cam-facelever 32 pivoted at 33 and acted on by a spring 34 tending to throw thecam face 32 inwardly toward the cam face 31. lrVhen the lever 8 israised to release the brakes, it is thus held between the two cam faces31 and 32, thereby preventing rattling of the parts.

From the foregoing, it'will be seen that by the present invention thereis provided power mechanism which is restrained from action while theengine is operating and which, at the will of the operator, auto-vmatically is applied to set the brakes and simultaneously break thecircuit to the spark plugs; and which, on the other hand, when theself-starter is energized to start the engine, automatically closes saidcircuit and relieves the brakes from the effect of said power device andsets the latter in position to be again automatically applied.Furthermore, it will be seen that the invention may be applied to thebrake mechanism now in common use without any material reorganization ofthe parts, and that the brakes may be both applied and released withoutthe operator removing his hands from the steering wheel. 8

Many variations and modifications of the form of the invention hereinshown and described will readily suggest themselves to those skilled inthe art. The particular form of power mechanism may be varied as alsothe particular means for controlling the application and release of saidpower, and many other modifications may be employed without departingfrom the spirit of the invention and while still remaining within thelimits of the appended claims.

lVhat is claimed is 1. In an automobile, the combination of brakemechanism, a weighted lever operatively connected thereto, restrainingmeans normally supporting said lever to hold the brakes off, an ignitioncircuit leading to the automobile engine through said restraining meansbut broken when said restraining means are released, and a releasingdevice cooperating with said restraining means, whereby the brakes areautomatically ap plied and the engine stopped upon the operation of saidreleasing means.

2. In an automobile, the combination of brake mechanism and meansholding the same in release position, with an electric circuit includingsaid holding means and the ignition element of the engine, and meanssimultaneously applying the brakes and breaking said circuit.

3. In an automobile, thecombination of brake mechanism, a source ofpower, means for applying said power to the brake to set the same, andmeans including a trip catch restraining the application of said powermeans, with an electric circuit including said catch and the ignitionelement of the engine, whereby when the catch is tripped to apply thebrake the electric circuit to the engine is broken. I

4. In an automobile, the combination of brake mechanism, a power devicefor applying the same, an electric circuit to the automobile engine,means simultaneously applying said power device and opening saidcircuit, and a second power device automatically releasing the brakesand closing said circuit.

5. In anautomobile, thecombination of brake mechanism, and means forapplying the same, an electric circuit to the automobile engine whichis'open when the brakes are applied, and automatic engine-startingbrakereleasing circuit-closing means.

6. In an automobile the combination of opening said circuit, and asecond power device simultaneously releasing the brakes and closlng saidcircuit.

7. In an automobile, the combination of the automobile engine, anignition circuit therefor, a starter for said engine, and means operatedby said starter and controlling said circuit. V

8. In an automobile, the combination of brake mechanism, and a powerdevice includin g a weighted lever for applying the brakes, andlever-engaging means for said lever when in brake-releasing position,whereby vibration and rattle of said lever is prevented.

9. In an automobile, the combination of brake mechanism, and means forapplying the same, and power-driven brake-releasing means comprising anengine starter, a cam driven by said starter and operatively connectedto said brake-applying means to release the brakes.

10. In an automobile, the combination of brake mechanism, a weightedlever operatively connected thereto to set the brake, engine-startingmechanism, and operative connections between said lever and startingmechanism, whereby said lever is raised to release the brake. r

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification.

EDGAR D. snows

